Chapter Eleven

Ryan's Game

Ryan returned to work. Back to the city. Back to the busy city where the sun carves
through fog and blankets the city in pure light. But on Earth below, cars emit
gray and buildings emit gray and carve the sunlight itself.Ryan walked past the
words "San Francisco Chronicle" in glimmering gold. He opened the brown mahogany
double-doors, trudged his way through the busy office and back to his cubicle.

The computer screen was blinking. On Ryan's calm blue desktop, a small gray
box flashed on the screen with the following words:

Ranko1024:
Hey babe! Did ya get laid this weekend?

He sighed. Ryan sat down at his desk.
He moved a large stack of crumpled drafts on the floor. After looking at the
computer Ryan sat at his desk.

APIQPrince:
Honey, that's not appropriate to talk about in the office.

The response came soon enough.

Ranko1024:Technically
it's past five so it's not the office right now.

APIQPrince:
Technically, eh? Well come on over!

An energetic Japanese girl walked
towards Ryan. She had flowing, bouncy red hair, red like a blood red rose. She
had deep blue eyes like sapphires. If Ryan were straight, he would surely have
gone out with Ranko Saotome..well she was going to be Ranko McNamara in a few
weeks. She also looked very smart in a crisp sand-colored pantsuit.

"You look fabulous," Ryan smiled.

"As ever," Ranko replied. "If I'm
going to get married, I might as well take advantage of Bret's five-digit salary!"

Ranko sat down in Ryan's swivel chair
and crossed her legs. She looked at Ryan with her jet blue eyes. Her long pants
creased and wrinkled with the movement of her legs. Ryan turned away and started
typing his story on the computer. Ranko pulled out a nail filer from her hot
pink purse and started carving away.

"So maybe you can tell me more about
this Riki guy that you are making me pick up," Ryan said distantly.

"Well," Ranko started filing her
nails. "We met him at Tahoe," Ranko chortled. "I showed him a picture of you.
He thinks you look pretty cute"

Ryan turned around in shock. "You
showed him a picture of me?! Don't tell me it was..."

"The picture at the Christmas party,"
Ranko smiled and laughed and then fell off the chair. Ranko showed him a picture.
The blonde guy was pretty cute. He was wearing a blue cap.. His soft blue eyes
looked hopefully toward Ryan. "He's
okay," Ryan said. "I normally like Asian guys though."

"Really?" Ranko said. "The way that
you and Tyler act seems more like you're more of a potato queen!

"Hey, I don't ask what you and Bret
do in the bedroom" Ryan snapped back. He turned to the window and started touching
the cool glass again, Below, he could see the world bustling. Life ensuing.
And he was trapped. Trapped in time, frozen on the fifth floor of 901 Mission
St. "Of course I like the touch of a guy," Ryan was shaking. "Especially if
he is smooth. His skin is soft and warm to the touch but strong and protective.
Like this one guy I met this weekend."

"This cute guy I picked up at the
airport" Ryan sighed. "Ryoga Hibiki." The
name "Ryoga" suddenly brought a chill up Ranko's spine. For a funny reason,
Ranko felt that he knew the name before. "Sounds pretty cute."

"Oh he is!" Ryan turned around excitedly.
"He's cute and absentminded and lean and drop-dead sexy."

"We're not," Ryan replied. “He’s
18 and I’m 29. See the big age gap?” He looked out the window again. “Sometimes,
I think I’m going to grow old alone and at first I was okay with that. But that
was when I was younger and didn’t know any better.” He
gestured toward Ranko. “Now look at you, my best friend, you’re getting married!
Parry and Johnson are partnering up. It seems like everyone is in a rush to
get partnered up whether they are homo or hetero. And me, I’m going to lead
apes into hell!*”

“Honey, that’s bullshit,” Ranko said.
“First of all, the reason why you’re still single is because you’ve been too
busy working to search for Mr. Right."

"I just want guys to find me attractive
again," Ryan said softly. “The old man look is starting to get to me.”

"And they do," Ranko said. She got
up and started rubbing Ryan’s strong shoulders. "Look, there is a cute guy waiting
for you at the airport right now. You may think you're old and over the hill.
The truth is that you aren't. And you can play harder than this hopeless flirty
twink Ryoga because you've been here longer. You can still play that game."

Ryan sighed. "You're right."

NOTE:

Color and the use of light is a very
essential feature of this fanfic. I really want the fic to be visual and very
visionary. See if you can get the color scheme that is going on in this story

“Lead apes into hell” is a Shakespeare
quote from Taming of the Shrew which means I’m going to be a bachelor or old
maid forever.